30 



National Resources Committee 



Future demands on the Region ean be better antici- 

 pated if production statistics by species are studied. 

 Each species has qualities which make it particularly 

 suitable for certain markets, and the demands of these 

 markets may not necessarily follow the trends of 

 national consumption as a whole. Each species pro- 

 duced in the region must encounter the competition of 

 certain eastern species of similar technical cjualities, and 

 variations in this competition are to be expected. 



Figure 12 shows the annual regional production by 

 major species. Figure 13 shows the proportion of the 

 Nation's consumption which each of these figures rep- 

 resents. The most important species, by far, is Douglas 

 fir and its importance increased steadily up to 1930; 

 this increase can be attributed to a decrease in the com- 

 petition of southern pine, a wood which has similar 

 uses. Since 1930, the rising trend seems to have been 

 arrested, although, of course, no definite conclusions 

 should be drawn from this appearance. Second in im- 

 portance is ponderosa pme. This species, also, has been 

 gaining in importance, and its proportionate gain has 

 been even greater than that of Douglas fir. Its percent- 

 age has been nearly quadrupled in the last 25 years, 



while that of Douglas fir has been about doubled. There 

 is less appearance of a leveling ofl" of its rising trend 

 since 1930. Except in very recent years, hemlock has 

 been third in importance, at times approaching ponder- 

 osa pine very closely. Since 1930, it has lost ground 

 and has dropped to fourth place. Its former position 

 has been taken by Idaho white pine, which has shown 

 a fairly substantial rise. The miscellaneous species have 

 not changed much in importance in recent years, al- 

 though their relative peak was during the World War, 

 when spruce was in great demand. 



Although international trade in lumber has been 

 nationally unimportant, the tidewater sawmills of the 

 Douglas fir industry have supplied a substantial part 

 of the export business. To them, this business has 

 been of importance, but they have been in direct com- 

 petition with similar sawmills in British Columbia, 

 which have even sold some lumber in this country. 

 Artificial barriers in the form of tariffs have been raised 

 and lowered. At present, export lumber is very limited 

 in quantity, and certain quotas of Canadian lumber 

 are admitted to the United States. Without risldng 

 a prediction as to the future, it is at least evident that 



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Figure 12. 



Figure 13. 



